An 81-year-old Palm Coast resident on foot was killed in a collision with a car as he was crossing the road at U.S. 1 and Royal Palms Parkway early Saturday morning. The 20-year-old Daytona Beach man driving the car suffered minor injuries, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The victim is the fifth pedestrian killed on Flagler County roads so far this year, representing a third of all road fatalities.
The driver, who immediately called the 911 dispatch center, was on his way to work when he reported that “a guy walked in front of him,” according to dispatch notes. The driver placed the initial call to 911 at 3:30 a.m.
The driver was distraught, screaming to the dispatcher as he described the victim in the road and oncoming traffic. Responders were at the scene within minutes and already aware that the victim would not have survived. He was pronounced deceased by a paramedic at 3:37 a.m. U.S. 1 northbound was shut down as was Royal Palms in both directions at that segment.
According to FHP, which is conducting the investigation, the driver was traveling north on U.S. 1 as he approached the intersection with Royal Palms. At that moment, the pedestrian was walking east across U.S. 1, “in the area of the marked pedestrian crosswalk from Education Way.” (The road immediately opposite to Royal Palms there is Education Way, the dead end that leads into the school district’s bus depot.) The driver’s sedan’s left front struck the victim.
Authorities conducted a voluntary blood draw from the driver. All roads were reopened to traffic by 8 a.m.
The fatality on Saturday was the 15th this year on Flagler County roads. Though the figure is considerably lower than the 24 and 27 road fatalities recorded in 2023 and 2022, five of the road fatalities this year were to pedestrians, or as many pedestrian fatalities as the combined total of the three previous years. of There have been 1,242 crashes recorded in Flagler County so far this year, 46 of them involving pedestrians. Fatalities included one cyclist and three motorcyclists.
Flagler County Traffic Crashes and Fatalities, 1990-2023
| 2023 | 1,453 | 24 |
| 2022 | 1,436 | 27 |
| 2021 | 1,468 | 16 |
| 2020 | 1,445 | 27 |
| 2019 | 1,431 | 11 |
| 2018 | 1,279 | 15 |
| 2017 | 1,190 | 33 |
| 2016 | 1,104 | 25 |
| 2015 | 1,377 | 12 |
| 2014 | 876 | 28 |
| 2013 | 1,063 | 16 |
| 2012 | 844 | 15 |
| 2011 | 620 | 22 |
| 2010 | 716 | 23 |
| 2009 | 715 | 16 |
| 2008 | 695 | 31 |
| 2007 | 792 | 16 |
| 2006 | 822 | 30 |
| 2005 | 805 | 20 |
| 2004 | 609 | 20 |
| 2003 | 508 | 17 |
| 2002 | 460 | 16 |
| 2001 | 326 | 16 |
| 2000 | 438 | 18 |
| 1999 | 382 | 16 |
| 1998 | 367 | 17 |
| 1997 | 382 | 13 |
| 1996 | 385 | 10 |
| 1995 | 360 | 11 |
| 1994 | 338 | 7 |
| 1993 | 307 | 10 |
| 1992 | 264 | 13 |
| 1991 | 274 | 10 |
| 1990 | 304 | 15 |
R.S. says
Traffic planners and driver-educators should shoulder a good part of the blame for the pedestrian deaths. I rarely see a car stop at a marked pedestrian crossing. I suppose that drivers assume the marked area to be a good place for cars to stop on. As a bicyclist, I slow down to be ready to yield to all idiots who, not wanting to lose a second of their time, run across the pedestrian walkway/bicycle path crossings. One of the worse decisions that traffic planners make is to permit right turns on red. There should not be any such general rule when pedestrian/bicycle traffic crosses to the right of the stopped vehicles. Drivers will look into the direction of oncoming traffic on their left and blithely ignore crossing traffic on their right. In Europe, you’ll see a green arrow that marks right-turn permitted intersections. There only, right turns after stop are permitted. I have also seen in Palm Coast intersections where the stop line for cars is on the far side of the croswalk; that design forces drivers to stop on the pedestrian/bicyclist crosswalk. And that design is an invitation for disaster. I have also experienced impatient drivers honking their horns behind me as I stop for pedestrian traffic at crossing paths. There is a lamentable ignorance or carelessness on the part of people behind steering wheels.
Mary Fusco says
R.S., I totally agree but what the hell was an 81 YO man, or anyone else for that matter, doing out on US 1 at 3:30 in the morning.
Ms says
You do realize this happened at 3:30 in the morning? Sympathy for the victim’s family and the driver.
Just wait for it says
The worst case of this is the west exit out of the Tractor Supply/Starbucks area. Those drivers coming out to make a right do not stop at the stop sign. They stop past the crosswalk. I have seen older gentleman have to go around in the road to get past them while traffic is stopped. I have also seen bicycles having to go into the road and almost getting hit because they pull out and block the crosswalk. Most drivers at that exit are VERY aggressive. On a few occasions I have had vehicles try to hit my car Then you have those who when traffic is already in motion slam on their breaks to let vehicles out. Something needs to be done over there.
sandybeachrocks says
Agree…also, know that a right turn on red is NOT mandatory. I sometimes choose to wait for a green light to make a right turn and the cars behind me honk. I would rather ignore the honk than try to make a right turn with heavy traffic/limited sight lines/multiple lanes, etc. Drivers, please be patient and let the car in front of you proceed when they are ready!
Skibum says
What in the world would an 81 year old man be doing walking out in that area of U.S. 1 at 3:30 am??? As tragic as this incident is, some decisions people make just defy logic.
Atwp says
Skibum, is it wrong to walk at 3:am? I think he had that right.
Skibum says
Of course he had that right, but was it a good decision? The point I am trying to make is that, at least from my perspective with all those many years of law enforcement experience behind me, I have had to witness first hand the sad result of far too many poor decisions that ended lives unnecessarily. While we live in a free society where we can do pretty much anything we want to do, go wherever we want, at any time of the night to include 3:30 in the AM, most people who reach a certain age have developed those invisible red flags that seem to pop up and wave furiously along with alarm bells going off in our heads to warn us of impending danger or things we are starting to do that are just plain dumb or outright dangerous. And I am certain that one of the very first things investigators at this tragic scene were wondering is where this man was coming from, where was he heading to, and why in the world was he out walking around at those early hours in the first place? We may never know, but one thing we do know is that poor decision ultimately ended that 81-year old man’s life.
Atwp says
Thank you Skibum.
JimboXYZ says
I can’t imagine at 3:30 AM how this could possibly happen with the traffic at that hour. The 81 year old probably had dementia or it was a suicide. There is simply too much real estate there for a pedestrian and motorist to ever be involved at this level of a collision on the asphalt. There’s even adequate street lighting there, crosswalks, some sidewalks. The motorist I am assuming wasn’t impaired. All the logical reasons for this ever happening aren’t indicated ? Obviously not a peak traffic time for anyone going to work, just baffled by how this could even happen if both pedestrian or motorist weren’t impaired, a failure of motor vehicle fro brakes or headlights. Was the motorist preoccupied with something in the cars, a radio, texting, sleep deprivation ? Oh well, if the FHP report has any indications of a true cause beyond old man hit crossing the road in the middle of the night, I won’t spin my wheels trying to solve it or figure it out. I mean the elderly man is not a wild animal like a possum, racoon or deer would be for a road kill accident ? So we can rule out the likelihood that he was spooked & darted into traffic. I mean he’s 81, not like he was doing anything more than going steady & slow across 4 lanes in that crossing ? Did he have a walker ? what was he wearing at that hour, as in anything reflective or high visibility vs darker clothing that he wouldn’t have been seen if a street light was out ?
Atwp says
Correction, 3:30 am.
Pat Stote says
I agree with Jimbo. He probably had dementia or he committed suicide.
May he RIP.